Ash-sifter.



No. 836,477. v PATENTED NOV. 20, 1906. J J WEIR ASH SIFTER. APPLICATIONFILED AfPR.,l8. 1906.

UNITED STATES.

PATENT. OFFICE.

JAMES J VVEIR, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK KRUG,.OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ASH-SIFTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. .20, 1905.

Application filed Apr-i118, 1906. Seria1-N0.312.380.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES J. WEIR, a citizen of the United States,residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certainImprovements in Ash-Sifters, of which. the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to so construct a combined ash scoop andsifter that the ashes can be readily collected therein from the ash-pitof a stove or furnace and can then be sifted without the escape of dust,the coal and fine ashes being separately dis charged from the deviceinto different receptacles.

It is further desired that the device shall be of cheap and simpleconstruction and shall possess no parts which are likely to be injuredor rendered inoperative by the rough treatment to which a device of thischaracter is ordinarily subjected.

These objects I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of acombined ash scoop and sifter constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the device illustrated inFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view, and Fig. .4 is a sectional viewillustrating a modification of one of the features of my invent1on.

In the above drawings the main casing 1 of the device is in the form ofa scoop, with a closed to 2 and an inclined front door or flap 3, suitaby hinged by a transverse rod to lugs 4 on the top of the scoop at thefront end of the same. By preference the front door 8 is flanged at eachend, as shown at 5, the flanges overlapping the sides of the scoop, soas to aid in forming dust-proof joints at such points.

The door 3 has at the top an upstanding lug 6, which when engaged by apivoted turnbuckle 7 on the top of the scoop will serve to retain thedoor 3 in a closed position. When the turnbuckle is thrown back out ofthe way, however, the door 3 can be raised and thrown back onto the topof the scoop, the lug 6 in such case passing through a slot 8 in the topof the scoop.

To the rear of the scoop, adjacent to the top of the same, is secured aclip 9, and to this clip some distance below the top of the scoop ispivoted the rear portion of a sifter-plate 10, the front end of whichrests uponthe bottom of the scoop, adjacent to the front edge thereof,being normally retained in this position by the engagement of a lug 11on the sifter-plate with a turnbuckle 12, pivoted to the bottom of thescoop near its front edge. The scoop has at the rear a socket 13 for thereception of a handle 14, whereby said scoop can be readily manipulated.

In operation the front door or flap 3 of the scoop is thrown back overthe top thereof, and the scoop is then used to take up the ashes in theordinary way, the sifter-plate being in its normal position, as shown inFig. 2. The door 3 is then closed and locked by engagement of theturnbuckle 7 with the lug 6, after which the scoop is shaken, so as tocause the finer portions to pass through the perforations of thesifter-plate into the chamber below the latter. This operation can beeffected without the escape of dust from the scoop, because of the closefit of the door to the front portion of said scoop. When the siftingoperation has been completed, the door 3 is released and the coal isdumped from the sifter-plate into a suitable receptacle, after which thelatch 12 is turned so as to release the front edge of the sifter-plate,and thus permit of the discharge of the ashes from,beneath the same intoanother receptacle. Instead of using the latch 12 the sifter-plate 10may, if desired, be provided at its upper end with a thumb-piece, asshown at 15 in Fig. 4:, constructed to pass through a slot in the top ofthe scoop near the rear end thereof, so that by pressure of the thumb orfinger against said piece when the coal is being discharged from thescoop the sifter-plate may be retained in its normal position, with itsfront edge in contact with the bottom of the scoop, in order to preventthe escape of the ashes with the coal, the release of pressure from thethumb-piece permitting the rise means whereby its front end can benormally closed top, a pivoted and inclined sifterretained in contactwith the bottom of the plate, with a hinged front door or flap having I5 scoop, substantially as specified. a lug thereon, and a pivoted latchon the top 2. The combination of a scoop having a of the scoop forengagement with said lug in closed top and a movable front door or flap,order to hold said front door or flap in its an inclined sifter-platepivoted at its upper closed position, substantially as specified. andrear end to the rear of the scoop and In testimony whereof I have signedmy 20 resting at its lower forward end against the name tothisspecification in the presence of bottom of the scoop, with a latchingdevice two subscribing witnesses. for normally retaining said lowerfront end of g JAMES J. WEIR. the Sifter-plate in position,substantially as Witnesses: specified. WALTER OHrsM, 3.- The combinationof a scoop having a i Jos. H. KLEIN.

